Efforts to Restore Schiavo Feeding Tube Defeated - 9 Repukes defected

[steve2470]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58819-2005Mar23.html



PINELLAS PARK, Fla., March 23 -- In the third setback in a day for efforts to resume tube feeding of a brain-damaged woman, the Florida State Senate this afternoon rejected a measure backed by Gov. Jeb Bush (R) to force doctors to reinsert the tube.

The 21-18 vote came after the parents of the woman, Terry Schiavo, lost two efforts earlier in the day to get a federal appeals court to order the tube reinserted. <snip>

The Florida Senate convened, at Bush's urging, to consider passing a measure that would force doctors to resume tube feeding the 41-year-old woman. Similar efforts stalled last week, but Schiavo's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, made emotional pleas to lawmakers to intervene.

<snip>

The Florida Senate actually did something smart today. Yay ! - editorial comment by OP. (The 9 senators thing came from Hannity, maybe he was lying - on edit.)

[illflem]

1. Still sounds like there are 18 senators that need to go

[Inland]

2. Turns out "pro-life" isn't all that popular, even with conservatives.

All the Florida legislature has to do is make a law of general applicability barring removal of feeding tubes. They could do it this second.

But they won't. The rhetoric of life being precious, starvation wrong and cruel, really doesn't reflect how the conservatives feel about things. Supposedly conservative lawmakers and Jeb would rewrite the law for the Terri Schiavo case alone as "extraordinary" and "unprecedented" when in fact it is neither and they are okay with that. They want to Save Terri for the fundies and let all the thousands and thousands of others in the exact same circumstances die quietly and out of the political limelight.